"Now what have the Heidlemanns done?"
"It's not what they have done; it's what they're going to do. They're trying to grab Alaska."
Dr. Gray shook his head impatiently, but before he could make answer Tom Slater entered and broke into the conversation by announcing:
"I've spotted him, Doc. His name is Linn, and he's Gordon's hand. He's at mile 24 and fifty men are quitting from that camp."
"That makes two hundred, so far," said the doctor.
"He's offering a raise of fifty cents a day and transportation to Hope."
Gray scowled and Eliza inquired quickly:
"What's wrong, Uncle Tom?"
"Don't call me 'Uncle Tom,'" Slater exclaimed, irritably; "I ain't related to you."
Miss Appleton smiled at him sweetly. "I had a dear friend once—you remind me of him, he was such a splendid big man," she said.